Guide library15 guides
Research Methods
How to plan a research paper, review the literature, take notes, evaluate sources, avoid plagiarism, and build a bibliography.
Every guide is free, written for students and researchers, and dated so you can see when it was last checked.
How to Write a Research Paper
Write a research paper as a process: read the assignment, name the genre, turn a topic into a question, take notes that stay yours, organize around claims, then revise. Live leftover rewrite of UNC, Purdue OWL genre, Harvard, UW–Madison, Toronto notes-from-research, and Purdue Global, with their official examples instead of invented theses.
How to Write a Literature Review
Write a literature review as synthesis around a question, not a stack of summaries. Official wording from the UNC Writing Center, University of Toronto Writing Advice, Purdue OWL, the Cochrane Handbook 6.5.1 leftover 6.5/2024 cite, Grant and Booth's 14-type SALSA typology, and PRISMA 2020, plus real published synthesis and scoping-review specimens.
How to Write an Annotated Bibliography
Write an annotated bibliography in APA 7 §9.51, MLA 9 §5.132, and Chicago 18 §13.65. Official handbook wording, leftover-Goldschneider-versus-Goldscheider, leftover-Toronto-McIvor-volume-15, leftover-UW-Madison-assignments-404, leftover-Purdue-APA6-city, leftover-Turabian-10-listing, and the indent mistakes that lose marks.
How to Evaluate Sources for Academic Research
Run Meriam Library's official CRAAP questions, then leave the page. Worked evaluations of Pew 2025, the BLS August 2026 Employment Situation and the July revision, MedlinePlus Vitamin D (updated 10 May 2024), Ioannidis 2005, and Kuhn 1962.
Primary vs Secondary Sources: How to Tell Them Apart
Classify a source as primary, secondary, or tertiary with live Harvard, Library of Congress, Yale, Illinois, and Cornell tests. leftover-LOC-which-versus-that, leftover-ACRL-2016-without-2-September-2026, leftover-Princeton-2-March-2026-unlinked, leftover-Cornell-Yale-omits-artwork, leftover-Gardner-Custer-versus-Batchelder-March-2025.
How to Find Scholarly Sources: Catalogs, Databases, and Citation Chaining
Find scholarly sources with an ACRL search workflow: match the question to a catalog or subject database, use official Boolean, MeSH, and ERIC vocabulary, then citation-chain from a real paper. Live PubMed, HOLLIS (14 September 2026), Cochrane Handbook 6.5.1, and ERIC May 2024 examples.
How to Read Academic Papers (Keshav Three-Pass Method)
Read a research article in up to three passes: Keshav's 17 February 2016 five Cs and math glance, then figures, then a virtual re-implementation. Official wording from Keshav, Raff (abstract last), ICMJE IMRAD and the abstract-versus-text warning (January 2026), UNC, Harvard Library, Mitzenmacher, and Carey et al. (2020), plus a first pass on Battaglia et al. (2013).
How to Take Research Notes You Can Cite Later
Label every line as a quotation, paraphrase, summary, or your own thought before you close the PDF. Official Harvard paste-then-paraphrase, Purdue OWL's six note-card steps and Lester example, Cornell, Toronto, MLA, UNC, and Princeton rules, plus Mueller (2014) and the 88-author Urry et al. (2021) replication.
How to Organize Research Files, Sources, and a Citation Library
File each source in one citation manager, name leftover files the Harvard and Princeton way, and build a synthesis matrix before you outline. Official Harvard file-and-label rules, Zotero collections-versus-tags, UNC and NC State matrix wording, and Verizon 2026 backup numbers.
How to Avoid Plagiarism: Official APA, MLA, Harvard, and Princeton Rules
Cite every idea, phrase, dataset, and image that is not yours or common knowledge. Official APA 7 §§8.2–8.3, MLA 9 §§4.1–4.16, Harvard, Princeton §2.4, and WPA wording, with McDougall, Agar, Derenoncourt, Ward, Sandel, Nguyen, Mask, Kernan, and leftover-Harvard-mosaic Persad–Cambra-Badii examples.
Paraphrasing vs. Quoting: When to Use Each
Choose paraphrase, quotation, or summary with APA 7, MLA 9, and CMOS 18. Live Style Center wording, UW–Madison Chase and Ross, UNC quote sandwiches, CMOS 12.10, and the locators each style actually requires.
How to Use DOIs in APA, MLA, and Chicago Citations
Write a DOI as https://doi.org/10.… in APA 7, MLA 9, and CMOS 18. Period rules, leftover-OWL-doi-colon, leftover-Bockelman-space, the 3 March 2026 Niepel sample, Jerrentrup’s Article e0193972, and when a PLOS article ID is not a DOI.
How to Find Archives for Research
Find the right repository with ArchiveGrid, SNAC, and the National Archives Catalog, read a finding aid, register for a reading room, and cite the folder you actually opened. leftover-Bryher-Dates-1812-1980-versus-scope-1812-1981, leftover-NARA-card-within-the-National-Archives, leftover-ArchiveGrid-not-regular-schedule, leftover-AHA-ArchivesWiki-hiatus, leftover-RMOA-28-September-2021.
How Peer Review Works (and How to Check a Journal)
How journal peer review actually runs in 2026: ICMJE's January 2026 definition and AI-by-reviewers rule, Nature's 16 June 2025 transparent-review default versus the Nature Portfolio journal-by-journal policy, PLOS One's validity-only criteria, NIH's simplified grant framework (28 April 2026), DOAJ's two-reviewer floor, and how to tell a refereed article from a preprint or a pseudo-journal.
How to Write a Bibliography
Format the end list your style actually names: APA 7 References or Reference, MLA 9 Works Cited or Work Cited, Chicago 18 Bibliography or References. Official handbook wording, hanging indents, letter-by-letter order, and live CMOS, MLA, and APA examples.